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Labour described the scandal as a “badge of shame” for Theresa May’s Tories.

And Macmillan chief Lynda Thomas said: “Attending A&E because they can’t get help ­elsewhere or waiting too long for treatment should be a rare event for someone being treated for cancer, but this research suggests it could be worryingly routine.

"The NHS aspires to deliver world-class cancer care, but this will not happen without enough staff with the right skills.”

Charities are privately exasperated with the Government’s lack of progress in implementing its five-year National Cancer Strategy, announced in 2015.

Publication of a planned cancer workforce review has been delayed. It comes as cancer care waiting time targets have been continually missed.

There are demands for Theresa May to take action (Image: REX/Shutterstock)

Figures released in June showed only 80.5% of patients started treatment within two months of being urgently referred by their GP, against the target of 85%.

It has only been achieved in only one month during the past three years.

Macmillan’s NHS staff survey found 44% of GPs and nurses believe workforce pressures mean cancer patients are not treated as early as they should be.

One doctor said: “There is a recurring theme of despair. GPs are retiring early and those left are at high risk of burnout.”

Jon Ashworth, Shadow Health Secretary, said: “It should be a badge of shame for the Tories that cancer patients are now having to visit A&E for help because routine services are not available.”

The Department of Health said cancer survival rates were at a record high but admitted “there is more to do”.

Rushed to A&E

Deborah was rushed to A&E after radiotherapy

Mum-of-two Deborah Grigg, 48, of South Oxfordshire, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.

She said: “I finished my radiotherapy and I was told that the symptoms of burning would get worse before they got better, so I wasn’t worried when they did get worse.

“After two weeks I actually became very, very unwell. I had a high temperature and my skin had split open.

“I couldn’t get an appointment with my GP. He prescribed me antibiotics over the telephone. If anybody had actually seen me I would have been admitted to hospital very quickly.

"That didn’t happen so it was four days before I was admitted. My husband took me in [to A&E] and I was admitted with septicaemia and was in hospital for a week. It took me about six months to recover.

“If I’d been given access to my GP it wouldn’t have happened. I nearly died.”